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| Some really pretty fountains outside the shrine sale |
To be perfectly honest, we haven't done a ton of exploring since we got to Japan. My husband has been incredibly busy with work and traveling is never any fun without him. However, we have gotten to go into Tokyo a few times and we went to our first "Shrine Sale" a couple of weeks ago.
My third night here, a bunch of girls went into Tokyo to eat at The Butler's Cafe. Here in Japan, they have something called Maid cafes that are very popular with the men. The waitresses are dressed up in French Maid outfits and treat the men like royalty. Well, The Butler's Cafe is supposed to be a version of that for women. They advertise it as a night for a princess when actually it was a bit creepy. The restaurant decor was done entirely in pink and lace and they had all male servers. When we first sat down, they handed us a list of "The Rules" such as: "No taking pictures of the butlers" and "No asking the butlers personal questions," and "No taking pictures of the interior of the restaurant." That alone was a bit unnerving, but we went along with it. All of the waiters were what I imagine Japanese women would think to be attractive white men, but honestly, they were a little sketchy. There were three main ones that took care of our table, one from Germany, one from South Africa, and one from Italy (who wore more makeup than I did, and was wearing a brighter shade of red lipstick than I would ever dare attempt). Then, they brought a small bell to our table that we were to ring whenever we wanted service. Whenever one of us would get the nerve to ring it, all of the butlers would say in unison, "Yes my princess!" and they would come rushing over. I could almost detect the sigh and the roll of the eyes that occurred every time one of those bells rang, but they kept it up all night. (Personally, I wouldn't last 5 minutes working there. I would have thrown a bell at someone long before if it were me.) We were given tiaras to wear and our plates were all decorated with our names on them. Their cocktail menu was full of names that gave no indication as to what was actually in them, but several of the ladies were brave enough to try some. I was far too jet lagged to even think about having wine, so I stuck with coffee all night to try and stay awake! Since several of us had birthdays around that time, they brought us a cake that had Happy Birthday written across the plate. When we left at around 11:00 to head back, I couldn't believe how many people were out and about still and how busy the trains were. I was a little nervous because I had absolutely no idea where I was and had I gotten separated from the group, there was no way I could have found my way back. It was really interesting, but the whole night was really overwhelming for my first week in Japan.
A few days later, my husband and I went with our friend Steve to the electronics district in Tokyo (I forget what the name of the area is). It's a bunch of really tall buildings with everything you could possibly need from computers and tvs to cables and comic books. Of course, the guys loved it! The funniest part was when we found one of those cardboard cutouts that you can stick your head through. It was two females, but Steve and I jumped back there and took pictures. As we're standing there, a Japanese guy walked past and did a double-take when he saw Steve in a French Maid cut-out. He then busted out laughing and kept walking. We walked through several stores that were each 4 or 5 stories tall. One was essentially a department store where each floor was something different. There was one floor for computers, and one for household appliances, and one for cosmetics, etc. I think the guys could have stayed a lot longer, but I was exhausted and I can only take electronics for so long before I burn out.
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| I thought it was funny to see a New Mexico item here |
Later, we went to our first ever "Shrine sale" that was out in the streets at Yamato I believe. It was like a huge flea market in the streets where people were selling everything from furniture to artwork and dishes. We didn't buy anything, but we walked around and took pictures for a while until it got too hot and we decided to head back. We went with our sponsor and her daughter Lilia who is a Japanese magnet. Lilia is an adorable little blonde hair blue-eyed baby and the Japanese people can't get enough of her. Every time we would stop walking for even a second, little old ladies would swarm around and start oohing and ahhing all over her. They'd start talking to her in Japanese and even take pictures of her. It seriously got to the point where we couldn't stop at all because people would run over to her like she was a celebrity of some sort. Jill says this happens all the time which really amazed me. I tend to pretty much leave people alone if I don't know them (unless it's Leo of course) and I can't imagine stopping someone in the street and taking pictures of their child. It would never even occur to me! From what I've noticed, people here are really intrigued by Americans. On the trains, you're stared at all the time. At restaurants, people will come up to your table and start talking to you and try to get pictures with you, just because you're different. I don't know if it's just a Japanese thing, or if it's all of Asia, but I know it doesn't happen everywhere. At home, and even in Europe, people tend to just leave you alone. If you're standing around looking lost, you might get someone nice enough to stop and ask if you need help. But people never just walk up while you're eating to say, "So, you're American. Can I take a picture with you?" I don't know if it's because our country is a nation of immigrants, so people come from everywhere, but we certainly aren't as intrigued by foreigners as they are here.
Today, my husband left for Hawaii for a week of training (tough life, right?) We have some really good friends that moved there the same time we moved to Japan. When he told me he was going last week, I was a little upset and he asked if it was because he was leaving. I said, "No, you get to see Lindsey and I don't!" Then, I thought about it and figured, hey, why not? So the past few days I've been working on trying to get a flight out there. One of the benefits of being a military spouse is that we can get on what's called a "Space A" flight, which is a military transport flight between bases. The downside is that the A stands for "available" which like standby, means that it's not guaranteed. So, I went ahead and listed myself on a Delta flight as well tomorrow night. Bright and early tomorrow morning at 5:30, I'm going to drive to the local train station (which will be the first time I've driven off base by myself) and hop on a train to Yokota Air Force Base (which will be the first time I've ridden a train by myself as well). If the Space A flight doesn't work out, I'll head from there to Narita in Tokyo and attempt to get on one of the 3 Delta flights leaving tomorrow night. I've spent all day mapping out my train routes and trying to prepare myself, but I'm still a little terrified. I'll change train lines at least 3 times on the way to Yokota which can be pretty intimidating. So, if you could pray tonight that I 1)Don't get lost in Japan somewhere, and 2)Actually get on a flight to Hawaii, that would be greatly appreciated! Hopefully I'll make it and have some gorgeous pictures to add soon! Goodnight! 
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